Create a Blog Site for Your Business

Create a Blog Site for Your Business

Effective blogging can do your small business a lot of good. Small businesses can benefit from adding a blog to their social media marketing plan. But, blogging is not that easy. You must invest time in research and writing to increase website traffic.

One important piece necessary to effectively build a blog for your small business is content. Readers visit blogs to collect information. To gain your customers’ and prospects’ trust, you must consistently supply them with quality and useful content. Add pictures to help tell your story. Images help break up text and make your blog more interesting.

How to Blog With Purpose

How to Blog With Purpose

A business blog can grow your business.

·         57% of companies with a blog have acquired a customer from their blog.

·         61% of U.S. online consumers have made a purchase based on recommendations from a blog.

·         Blogs attract repeat visitors who continue to come back to the website for fresh content.

The figures above are conservative. Blogging gets more important everyday. Start now. Here are some tips for blogging with purpose.

Answer questions. Listen closely to questions your prospects and customers ask. Answer every one.

Teach, don't preach. Avoid making your blog a heavy handed attempt to advertise your products. Adopt an educator's mentality and you'll win your reader's trust.

Engage your readers in a conversation. Ask questions of your readers, encourage feedback, counterpoints and criticism. Respond to comments as promptly as possible in an effort to exchange ideas.

Use images. Take advantage of the appeal of pictures to help tell your story and make your posts more attractive.

Set a schedule and stick to it. The number one reasons blogs fail is they are neglected. Schedule time to blog and post on a regularly. No excuses.

Increase your SEO. Use keywords and phrases that will increase your search engine rankings. Make them a smooth part of your blog conversation.

Have fun. Don’t be stiff or formal. Relax and fun writing

Why You Should Blog for Your Small Business

Why You Should Blog for Your Small Business

Combine "web" with "log" and you get "blog." It's a funny word, but serious business.

You’re currently blogging for your business or thinking about it (you really need to start NOW!), so here are some tips to help you blog with a purpose.

1.   Connect with customers - A blog is a practical and powerful way to share useful, relevant information with customers.

2.   Generate traffic - A strategically planned blog, with carefully chosen keywords in play, will show up in searches, increase your SEO (search engine optimization) and drive traffic to your website.

3.   Establish authority - Your business blog is the hub of your content marketing efforts where you share your expertise.

4.   Win business – According to Hubspot, 60% of businesses who blog acquire more customers.

5.   Increase reach - Your blog will be shared and find new readers/followers daily.

6.   Give your company a voice - A blog is your pulpit, your publication, your journal - the place where you talk about whatever you choose, however you choose.

7.   Humanize your company - That voice needs personality. Great bloggers are genuine. Your personality comes into play, that is, if you aim to make real connections.

8.   Inspires content and productivity - Blogging is hard work. You need processes. Commitment. Consistency. You'll need to step up - and you'll be rewarded for doing so.

9.   Generate publicity - As mentioned above, business bloggers establish authority. Stick with it and demonstrate you know your niche and you'll get asked for interviews.

10.     Learn - We'll get a bit warm and fuzzy now, but there's no denying you are going to learn a lot about yourself and the world around you. It comes with being a writer.

11.     Get inspired - The research, the conversation, the experience... it's inspiring. Trust me on this: a switch gets turned on and it's impossible to turn off.

12.     Have fun - Perhaps not everyone will agree blogging is fun, but I believe every great blogger gets into it and enjoys the ride.

Tips to Make Your Website Attract Visitors

Tips to Make Your Website Attract Visitors

Small businesses rely on their website to bring in new leads. However, many of these websites are poorly designed, have low quality content and no clear call to action. Having a well thought out website can increase your business.

Your home page needs to tell your visitor everything about what you do in a clear, precise way. It doesn't have to massively long, just a few simple sentences or bullet points saying who you are, what you do and where you do it. Since a lot of web traffic doesn't go past the first page, it is important that your visitor understands your business from your home page.

Include a “contact us” form on your home page so they don't even have to navigate away from that page to get in touch, display your phone number clearly and any other details they might need to contact you. Too many websites hide their details away on some page with a link in the footer. You want to make it as easy as possible for potential customers to contact you.

Have a video. Video is becoming the preferred way to find out about a product or service. Add a 50-50 second video to your homepage. Visitors would much rather simply watch a short video and find out what you do than read through an entire website.

And finally, keep it simple. So many websites nowadays have big flashy banners and pages of text. Just keep everything simple and easy to read yet well thought out and informative.

Social Media Marketing Mistakes to Avoid

Social Media Marketing Mistakes to Avoid

Social media is a very powerful marketing tool for small businesses. Many small businesses are using different forms of social media, such as Facebook, LinkedIn and blogging to connect with customers and prospects. Here are some social media mistakes to avoid when using social media to communicate and connect with your target audience.

Neglecting to Post

You need to post on a regular basis. Your readers will expect to see new posts from you on a set schedule. If you skip posts or don’t post often, your audience will not see you as an expert in your field. There is nothing worse than checking out a web site and seeing that the business hasn’t posted anything to their blog in months, or even years!

Procrastinating in Replying to Comments Made

Not replying to inquiries or comments made about your posts is a huge mistake. Treat your social media tools like you would your physical business. Make sure you promptly reply to any readers. This allows you to establish rapport with your target audience.

Be Aware of What Your Competition is doing

Everyone these days are making use of social media for online marketing purposes since it is a very powerful marketing tool. You must also stay up-to-date on what your competition doing.

Include Video on Your Website

Include Video on Your Website

Video has become a marketing requirement for businesses. It is fast becoming the preferred way to find out about a product or service. Your visitors would rather watch a short video and find out what you do rather than read through an entire website.

Using video on your home page is a great marketing tactic. But we’re seeing many videos that are flops. Why? Because the business uses the video to talk about themselves, how long they’ve been in business, their products or services. Such a snoozer!
Your website visitors don’t care about your business, products or services. All they care about is themselves and their problems. If you’re talking about anything other than your prospect and their problems at the start of your video, you’ve lost their interest.

Focus on your target audience’s problem and how your products or services can help solve their problem. Use this opportunity to tell a story about a current customer that had the same problem and how you’ve solved it for them. Have your customer give a testimonial video. People love personal experience stories.

Have a Small Marketing Budget? Here are 3 Inexpensive Marketing Tactics That Work

Have a Small Marketing Budget? Here are 3 Inexpensive Marketing Tactics That Work

There are so many marketing strategies available to small business owners as technology evolves. As a small business owner, you must market your products or services effectively with a limited marketing budget.

You need to identify the best possible methods for your business and how to implement them. Here are three inexpensive marketing tactics that work for small businesses.

1.   Use Organic Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Your company website is one of the most important tools if not "The" most important tool for promoting your small business. Potential customers often get their first impression of your brand when viewing your website.

SEO (search engine optimization) campaigns are created to have your website appear in the top search results of the primary search engines such as Google, Yahoo, and Bing organically. This means, it is not shown in search through paid advertising, but in the organic search results. Organic searches are more trusted and yield a much higher click-through rate.

Google's free AdWords tool helps small business owners identify keyword phrases that yield the most traffic online. Those should be considered for optimization and SEO, but competitiveness should be kept in mind. At times, smaller niche markets are easier and faster to reach. AdWords will be able to provide all those details for your small business.

2.   Use Google Analytics

Do you know what is happening to your website and marketing efforts. Without factual data, you will not be able to measure your efforts. With Google Analytics and other third party tools, small business owners can quickly get reports, statistics, and measurements of their marketing efforts.

3.   Content Marketing

Content marketing is the creation of articles, blog articles, press releases, videos, and images, such as Infographics. Many small businesses neglect the importance of content marketing. It is a critical method of marketing, very results oriented, and also one of the least expansive techniques to market online.

By regularly adding new content to your website, you increase the search ranking. You show your customers and potential customers that you are an expert in your field when you share your knowledge through your blog.